Zack Greinke: Cy Young Candidate

April 24, 2009

The results are in and four games into the season, Zach Greinke is the best pitcher in baseball.  Greinke was high on most fantasy baseball managers’ pre-season rankings, but few expected him to start the year 4-0, especially while playing for the offensively anemic Royals.  Tonight he threw a three-hitter and is now sitting with a Don Drysdale/Orel Hershiser-esque 0.00 ERA and 0.86 WHIP through 29 innings.  While I don’t expect him to seriously challenge Bob Gibson’s modern day ERA mark, I do think his success is for real.

Greinke’s stats have a favorable trend since 2005.  In fact, his ERA and BAA has improved every year since ‘05.  Last season he finished with a 3.47 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 183 K’s in 202 innings pitched.  If you dig deeper, however, you’ll see that Greinke finished the year remarkably strong.  In August of 2008, he tossed 29 innings with a 2.48 ERA and 1.31 WHIP.  In September, he compiled a 2.18 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 32 K’s in 33 innings. 

Greinke, the former sixth overall pick in the 2002 draft,  is still only 25.  He has unbelievable command of his pitches, a low 90’s heater, and three other solid major league pitches, including a slider, curveball, and changeup.  Greinke is pitching with confidence, and given his great start, talent, and trend over the past few years (and particularly the end of ‘08), it looks like he is poised to have his best year yet in ‘09.  A 2.80 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 190 K’s and 17 wins is entirely reasonable.

Written by Evan Rosen · Filed Under Player News | 2 Comments